“Papa, I’ll be leaving now.” Ara slung her camera strap over her neck.

“What time are you coming back?” Dad’s voice came from the kitchen as Ara was about to open the door.

“Seven.” He came out into the living room with his favorite yellow apron and a spatula in hand, and carefully looked his daughter over.

“Make sure to always keep your bag and phone near you at all times, alright?” Ara gave a nod. “Most importantly, take care of yourself.”

“Got it, pa. I’m going now. Bye!” Ara went out the door, smiled and waved before he could get into a lecture. It was already late afternoon. She put on her shoes and hurriedly swung open the gate. It was a great day for adventure and photographs.

She walked in happy spirits. On the way to the bus station, the wind brought a wonderful cool breeze, and the soothing greens of plants among the varied houses of neighbors was always a lovely sight. As she gently touched her camera, the thought occurred that she could take photographs of this place too. But at the moment, there was no time for that. She had wanted to go to the famed fortress called Intramuros for a long time. Now that her school gave them a free day today since their exams ended, she finally could.

In excitement, she tried to go earlier. However, the moment she stepped out of the house, the sun burned and blinded so much that she had no choice but to retreat back to the house. She gave a sigh, to which her dad laughed.

“What did you expect? It’s eleven AM.” She agreed, disheartened. The harsh sunlight was probably not the best for the romantic dreamy image she envisioned for the photos she wanted to take of the walled city either.

She fell asleep while waiting for the sun to calm down, and now it was around two pm. The inside of the bus was cramped with people and the frigid air that blew from the air conditioners was a familiar motion. It wasn’t that surprising having to stand either. She had confidence in her balance so she was rather fine with that too.

She got a ticket from the conductor and paid for her fare, making sure to tell that she was a student to get her discount. Even the motion of the conductor as he made his way around the bus was just something normal. There was a bit of traffic, but soon they arrived at her destination.

Quite a lot of people exited the bus with her and as soon as her feet touched the ground, her eyes immediately get caught up by the walls across the street. It looked so ordinary and out of place all at once, this walled fortress in the very heart of Manila herself.

The walls themselves were sad. Or maybe it was majestic, it depended on who was asked. They were made up of darkly colored rocks that were rectangular but had curved edges that greatly varied and made each one different from each other. It looked weary from having stood under the sun for five hundred years. Yet at the same time, it had a regal air about it, as if aware of its seniority and knew it was something it could be proud of.

Going through an underground hallway that served as the pedestrian lane, with its dirty white tiles and floors that have taken the pounding of thousands of footsteps going through it every day, it somehow provoked a surreal experience.

Voices and the sounds of the city mixed in a haze with the dull light of the bulbs and the warm tropical air. She went up the first stairs she saw and ended up in the middle of the street, with ragged men in their ragged clothes who ushered the passengers to multi-colored jeepneys.

“Where to?” One asked her, to which she quickly shook her head. Realizing her mistake, she went back down the stairs and calmed herself a bit. This was the first time she ever went to a place besides school, and all on her own too. Out of the way of traffic, most of the people walked fast. Everyone seemed like they had places they needed to be in, even on a seemingly lazy Friday midafternoon.

She went up on the next set of stairs.

 

***

 

That was over two years ago and things have happened since then. Now, it was September and the air was welcoming and warm.

Her dad was no longer alive, and her eldest brother moved away due to an offer on his job. Her second oldest brother was also finishing up on his master’s degree and at the same time, his lover has recently started living with them.

Since then, she hasn’t been able to go back to the walled city until now. She has, however, learned how to go to school on her own more often.

She took the same exact steps from the house to the bus station and to the rocky gated entrance until she was inside the fort. Unlike before, it was her older brother who greeted her off when she left home. There were less people in the bus, and she was able to sit comfortably. She didn’t get lost on the underground passage anymore and took the wrong stairs up this time either. The only things that didn’t change were the clothes she wore and the city’s walls.

As Ara thought before, it wasn’t a harmonious blend between the old, anachronistic façade of rocks and the modern cityscape that peeked in view here and there. Ara wasn’t sure where she was exactly at the moment, but she didn’t seem the least concerned about that. What mattered was that she took a lot of photos. She couldn’t take much that last time.

“What a nice Friday today has been.” Ara said when she stopped to take a deep breath.

When she looked at her watch, she was surprised to see that it was nearly five. With this came other realizations of an empty stomach and aching feet. Looking around, she spotted the ever-omnipresent glow of a McDonald’s. It was hot, but she still wore a jacket to protect against the sun and the cold of bus rides. Right now, she was sweating underneath. A cold treat sounded just perfect.

On the way, there was another restaurant she was about to simply pass by if it weren’t for the big poster on its glass walls that featured ice creams. The name was something her friend had mentioned she wanted for them to try.

She went inside and was greeted by the beautiful cold. There weren’t a lot of people and it had a relaxing air about it which she found comforting. She walked towards one end of the wall that had what looked like a freezer. Surely, the treats should be in there.

Sliding the glass doors open, she took two in her hands and debated whether to get the vanilla or the chocolate mochi-enclosed ice cream. She put the chocolate back when she saw a curious shape in one of the wrappers.

“Corn? As an ice cream?”

She didn’t know how such a flavor could exist, but it sounded interesting enough and delightful to her. Corn was good, so she made her way to what seemed like the counter and bought it.

When she turned around, she realized she didn’t know what to do next. Should she stay around and eat it in the store all alone by herself, or eat it outside while she walked? She realized she wished her friend Lily, were with her. It was Lily who wanted to try this ice cream brand too. Suddenly, she felt guilty for buying it now.

“Ara?” An unfamiliar voice called out and she turned to its direction. There was a familiar-looking guy standing up to meet her. He had olive skin and curly light brown hair, and his face looked warm and happy. Like a puppy, except that he was ridiculously tall.

“Library?” She didn’t mean to think it out loud. He answered before she could think of something else to say instead.

“Yes, that’s right.” He laughed a bit. She remembered now. This guy was Dominic, an upperclassman she had in grade school. They saw each other a lot in the library back then.

He left and transferred to another school when Ara was about to graduate then, so it has been more than four years since. He has gotten a lot taller and grown nicely into his features. He always looked nice in Ara’s eyes as a child, but he seemed even better now.

“It’s nice to see you again.” She said with a smile, her voice a soft but audible, multicolored tone that always sounded gentle. After that, she didn’t know anymore what to say. She wondered why he transferred, but she wasn’t sure whether she could ask about such things right off the bat. She held onto her ice cream, careful not to touch the cold part.

“You should eat that before it melts.” He was right, but Ara was suddenly sure she didn’t want to eat it all alone in this place after all, now that there was a person who knew her. “Want to sit down?” He turned around and pointed to a table that a carried a bag which must be his.

“Are you eating alone?”

“I’m just waiting for someone.” He said. Ara wondered if it was a date. If so, she didn’t want to intrude.

“Are you sure I can join in?” She wasn’t sure how to outright reject him either.

“Don’t worry about that, besides I’m sure he’ll be late again anyway.” He assured her. Ara wondered who this ‘he’ was, but he was already walking back to his table and Ara had no choice but to follow.

“What are you doing around here anyway? You seem to be alone too.” Dominic started after they were both seated.

“Yes. I was taking photos. I’ve never been here before, even though it’s so near and this place is considered a classic site for photography.” True enough, Ara has always studied in a school in the city and used to live near the place too.

She tore open the wrapper and found the ice cream was exactly just like in the wrapper’s photo. It smelled pleasant like corn and vanilla, but the thought that it was also sweet corn made it weird.

“I’m sorry, here I was about to eat it all myself. Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Ara worried.

“Wow that looks exactly like the picture.” Dominic remarked. “I think I want to buy myself one too.” He got up and was in front of the freezer when the entrance door opened and a guy carrying a big black bag went inside.

“Huh? Why are you here already?” He stormed to where Dominic was. “And why are you eating that?”

“You should calm down first.” Dominic was unfazed as he went to the cashier to pay. The guy followed him around. Finally, Dominic went to the table where Ara ate her ice cream happily. As she saw them walk towards her direction, Ara’s heart started beating faster. She was already surprised enough with this sudden meeting with Dominic, she wasn’t sure she was ready to meet his friend right away too.

“What are you doing sitting there? There’s already someone on that table.” The newly came boy half-whispered angrily at Dominic. He had such a pretty color to him that Ara wasn’t sure what to call it, all that it looked neither too light nor too dark. His hair looked so soft and so black and yet it looked warm with his skin.

“Yes, of course I can see that. Let’s sit you down for now then.” Dominic pulled out a chair for him. “Sorry about this guy, Ara.”

“Ah, there’s nothing to be sorry about.” She waved her free hand in front of her.

“Are you hitting on girls again?” The boy said not so warmly after he set his big luggage which turned out to be an instrument bag on a chair and sat down himself. Ara saw the shift in Dominic’s face, which has been cool throughout this whole time, quivered into the slightest annoyance.

“I do not hit on girls like that, and I am not hitting on her either.”

“Ah, I see.” The boy said with not a hint of belief.

“Anyway, this is Ara, a friend from my old school. Ara, pardon this stupid guy. You can call him Jules, he’s a fellow band member.”

“A band member?” Ara asked and Dominic nodded. She did notice earlier there was an instrument bag in the table with Dominic too. “Nice to meet you, Jules. My name is Ara.” Ara greeted in his direction with a smile. She was met with silence and wondered if maybe she should hold out her hand for a handshake.

“Hello.” The boy named Jules said, not meeting her eyes. “Nice to meet you too.” Dominic burst out laughing just as he was about to eat.

“What the hell was that?” Dominic said in between breaths. Ara was stunned at their sight. They didn’t seem to be in a good relationship at all.

“Huh? What’s your problem?” Jules faced Dominic with anger, hot and dark in his eyes.

“You’re actually shy around girls.” Jules flinched at Dominic’s words. He started to beg to differ, but Dominic was just shaking his head. He gave up.

“You take pictures?” Jules turned in Ara’s direction suddenly.

“Ah, yes.” She said, taken aback. She touched her camera that was placed on top of the table.

“That’s a very old model, huh.” Jules remarked that made Ara’s cheeks suddenly hot. It’s not that she was ashamed about that, but the sudden remark threw her off balance of sorts. “Ouch, what was that for?” Dominic has done a karate chop on Jules’ head.

“You’re not only stupid, but extremely rude. Apologize, will you?”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong, ri--” Jules tried to argue and looked to Ara for confirmation. Before he could finish, he saw her eyes looking down at her camera that seemed to refused meeting theirs, and the flustered look on her face before he realized it himself.

“Jeez, Jules.”

“Hey, um, Ara. I’m sorry about that.” Jules started, his voice that has been nothing but loud earlier has taken a softer tone that coaxed Ara to look at him. His right hand cuffed his neck as he apologized, his face started to get hot himself. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh! No!” Ara waved her hands in front of her again. “Let’s see, Jules was it? It’s okay. There’s nothing to apologize for, I wasn’t hurt by that.” He suddenly looked relieved.

“Really? Ah, but I really didn’t mean it that way. I was just impressed and thought that you were kind of cool to be able to take care of your camera for it to last so long.” Jules refused to meet her eyes again. Ara laughed that surprised both men.

“Is that so? Thank you very much.” The air finally seemed to get lighter. Dominic who was nearly finished with his ice cream, looked at his phone.

“Wow, it’s five already.” He said.

“What photos do you take?” Jules said at the same time. Ara looked at the both of them.

“Do you need to go somewhere? I must be keeping you.” Ara started to stand.

“No, no, it’s fine.” Dominic was about to grab her hand because she looked ready to bolt out. “Hey Ara, we’re about to have a little busking performance. If you’re not too busy, want to see for us a bit?” Dominic said as he started to get up. Jules got up too.

“Busking?” Ara has never heard of the word before.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m going to beat this guy and prove that instrumental busking does exist.”

“I know it exists, Jules. What I said was that it probably won’t give us as much hype, more specifically, you doing any publicity won’t do much good.” Dominic said that last part a little lower, but Ara and Jules heard all the same. Jules’ fists curled into balls and Ara started getting nervous that a real fistfight might happen. More importantly, she wanted to know what busking was.

“What was that, you--?” Jules started when Ara spoke.

“Excuse me! Can I take photographs while you’re busking?” She had the idea that maybe it was a sort of fighting sport. She always loved taking photos of sports, trying to capture those movements that lasted for not even a second. She didn’t always succeed, but it was a great experience all the same. More importantly, if they were going to fight, the innocent restaurant had nothing to do with it. They’d only get in trouble.

“Ooh, that’s a great idea, Ara.” Dominic agreed. “Come on, let’s go.” Dominic put on his big instrument-shaped bag over his shoulders like a backpack. He started walking that Jules had no choice to put on his as well, and he and Ara started to follow Dominic out of the restaurant.

Dominic held the door open for Ara and let go once she passed through, nearly smacking Jules whose hands were full. Ara looked back and caught the door handle in time before it could crash on him.

“Hey! What was that about?” Jules’ voice rang loudly and turned some heads.

“Why should I hold a door open for you? Anyway Ara, we’ll walk for a bit, is that okay with you?” Ara nodded.

She’s been taking photographs of inanimate objects for most of her trip today that she was excited to have real people as subjects. Furthermore, it was these guys. She couldn’t wait to see how these two vastly different, yet both gorgeous men will turn out in her photos.

They walked out of the nearby rocky arch that looked like a gate, through a sidewalk with green curved shades hanging from one side, went under another underpass, and walked through some more before they arrived at what looked like an open plaza.

It was not dark yet but decorative round lights that hung in trees glowed a warm yellow. There were seats built into where the trees stood, and over it, the sky stretched into a rosy pink and warm orange cover that always seemed like the sun’s way of saying good night to this city.

Ara moved away from Dominic and Jules and went under a tree and on instinct, opened her camera and pointed it up. It looked as beautiful under the lens as it was in person as she pressed the shutter. It felt like such a typical shot of the tree and sky but it was always a lovely sight. And she could always delete it later if it didn’t seem as good as she thought.

Her camera looked around and found Jules and Dominic, who was yet into another argument with each other. Through the camera, their banter didn’t seem as dangerous as it felt like in real life. She wondered if she could snap this kind of photo. The shutter clicked.

 

***

 

She found out not too long after that busking was not a sport after all. It was a kind of street music performance. The boys planned for it to be a contest between them and drew lots. Jules was up first. They only had fifteen minutes or around three songs each and the one who gets the most money was the winner.

Jules started at where they set up and started playing a song with his bass which Ara learned about from them only today. She knew what they sounded like but couldn’t distinguish their appearance from guitars. Dominic positioned some distance away from him and Ara followed.

“Don’t feel like taking pictures of him, huh?” Dominic started to which Ara got surprised. She was also surprised by the intensity of Jules’ playing, which was what made her entranced in the first place. He wasn’t singing but it felt like he could hear still hear him very well, his music.

“Ah, no, that’s not it. I was just surprised.” Ara said and smiled. “I’ll take pictures now.” Ara went closer to where Jules was at and started snapping pictures. Jules had been closing his eyes and when he opened them and found Ara snapping photos, he lost his composure and messed up the next chord and he halted the song to a stop. Dominic laughed in the distance and Jules hissed at him. Ara wondered what happened.

“You, don’t take photos. Darned it.” Jules addressed to Ara that made her flinch. Dominic approached them.

“Don’t blame the girl, Jules. Anyway Ara, I hope you can continue taking pictures. Don’t worry, I’ll buy those photos.”

“Huh? Why would you photos of me, are you some sort of creep?”

Ara had never had a client before. The thought of getting paid suddenly made Ara excited.

“Please let me take photos of you.” Ara faced Jules and clapped her hands together like a prayer. He recoiled from her as her eyes took on a happy shine he has never witnessed her give the whole time.

“Look, I don’t like photos being taken of me.”

“Why?” Ara didn’t miss a beat.

“Well, I guess, it’s because,” Jules paused in-between phrases, not sure what to say. “Maybe because I don’t flatter photos?” In the end the truth, or a bit of it came out. Jules didn’t like photos taken of him because he never liked what he saw. On the other hand, he enjoyed taking the photos himself more.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you look great.” Ara promised. Jules wanted to argue more but Dominic who was behind her raised and pointed at his phone that showed he only had around ten minutes left and he still hasn’t even gotten a single coin.

“Fine, suit yourself.” Jules admitted, defeatedly. He readjusted his guitar and let out a deep breath, recollecting himself. He tried not to pay any attention to Ara and her camera and focused on his music but it was hard since he was painfully aware of their existence after all. Ara wondered if it was only her or if the vibe of his music changed a bit from earlier. She didn’t know a lot about music so she figured that maybe it was only her imagination.

Under her camera, Jules looked like a fire to Ara. His eyes and posture held a deep emotion that Ara wasn’t sure of. She had always managed to find out who and what kind of person someone is through her camera.

For Ara, what she saw when she looked at someone through the lenses was the truth that her eyes could never see on their own. Yet, for some reason, Jules who looked like he wore his heart on his sleeve that even Ara thought she could understand him with her naked eyes was a mystery under her lens.

Thankfully, Jules managed to finish his last piece with flourish. There were quite a few people who were in front and as he gave his thanks and bowed, they clapped. He looked at his bag that has been made to collect money and saw that he got quite a few bills and coins. He gave a sigh, he had a feeling Dominic might outdo him after all. Dominic approached them and Jules looked at Ara whose face was half hidden by her camera that was pointed at him. He looked away at once.

“Well, looks like it’s my turn now.” Dominic started preparing as Jules cleaned up.

Ara watched over them in silence as the two continued to banter some more. Dominic admitted that it was him who pushed Ara to take pictures, which did not fly over well with Jules. She was worried, but she didn’t know what to do or say to make them stop.

Soon, Dominic finished setting up his guitar into the amplifier. Dominic gave an introduction of himself and of the song he was about to play. Ara didn’t know that Dominic could sing or play instruments, but she soon discovered that he did so well. She didn’t know what song it was but it sounded nice.

She set her camera on him and took a photo. Dominic looked warm, sort of like a fire as well but not the type that burned and screamed ‘step back’ like Jules was. Unlike with Jules as well, she was only able to take photos freely for a little while before a lot of people flooded the area where he was at. He addressed them in-between songs and seemed every bit like a real showman.

“Rascal.” Ara heard Jules said when she gave up on taking photos and joined up with him to observe from a distance. “Annoying rascal.”

“Why do you dislike Dominic so much?” Ara was hesitant to ask, but she didn’t know what else to talk about.

“Ha? Is that even a question? Just look at him, he’s an awful person.” Ara could not see what was awful about Dominic in the slightest.

“He seems like a very kind person.”

“Those kinds of people are the worst. Think people are nice? Every one of them’s just pretending, so you should never trust those seemingly good people.” Jules said with less intensity but with much more intent, and there seemed to be a depth to his words. His words were not nice, but there was a certain charm that was captivating about him.

Ara blinked and looked back to Dominic. She wasn’t sure what to say to something that seemed to be a deeply held belief Jules had.

Soon, Dominic’s time was up.

“Please support our band, Sunset Bay City. This has been Dominic, thank you very much!” He wrapped up his session with a goodbye and a thankful bow to the crowd, to which everyone clapped as well.

“Hey, was that really SBC? OMG.” As people dispersed, some girls muttered to each other excitedly.

“Duh, that was Dom, didn’t you recognize him? I can’t believe you.”

Ara looked at Jules who had his eyes closed and his arms over his chest. Could it be that they were a more popular band than she initially thought? SBC sounded kind of familiar.

“Let’s ask for pictures with him! We might never get another chance like this.” The others chimed in and agreed, going back to where Dom was already busy taking pictures with a few other girls who must have recognized him right away. Jules started walking in the direction opposite Dominic. Ara didn’t know what to do since it looked like Dominic was busy, so he followed Jules. They walked in silence.

“Aren’t you going to where Dominic is?” Ara worried after a while.

“Why would I do that?” Jules’ tone was too sharp. “I don’t need to do anything like that, besides with that crowd, I’m sure he already won this stupid thing anyway.” Jules said just a tiny bit less sharply this time.

“Are you going home then?” Ara asked.

“Yeah.” At this, Ara stopped walking.

“I see, I guess I should probably start going home too.” Jules stopped and turned to look back at her in the middle of the sidewalk. “I wanted to say goodbye to Dominic, so I’ll go back a bit.”

“You think you can do that with that crowd? Don’t bother.” There was

“But it’ll feel weird just going off.” Ara was in a pinch how to make him understand as he really seemed to hate Dominic. “After all, he allowed me to take photos of you two as well.” Jules’ lips pressed into a thin line.

“About those photos, can you—”

“Ara, Jules, I can’t believe you guys just left me there!” Dominic ran and caught up with them. “Thank goodness those girls were so nice and respectful and only took one photo each. I wish all our fans will always be like that.”

“Where’s my amp?”

“Well, it’s not mine and I don’t wanna carry that heavy thing back.” Dominic shrugged off and behind Ara, even she could feel the sudden murderous intent behind her from Jules. The aura scared her but she didn’t jump out of the way in case he really might do something awful to Dominic. She was too frightened to even turn behind but a second later he grabbed her arm that made her flinch.

“Please hold this for a while.” He set his instrument bag on her hand and made a mad dash to where they performed earlier. Dominic laughed so gleefully which did not nothing to calm Ara who had frozen in shock holding Jules’ bass.

“Man, that was good. Don’t worry about it Ara, he runs fast, he’ll get there before somebody can try to steal his amp.” Ara got even more worried now that she understood what the problem was.

“Amp?”

“Amplifier.” Dominic said and Ara figured it must be the squarish thing they plugged their guitars into. “Anyway, how was it?”

“Hmm?”

“The busking, I mean.” She gave it a thought.

“I think you and Jules were great. I don’t really know much about music, but I appreciated and loved both of what you played. You guys played so differently too, so I was really thinking while you were playing, ‘I wonder how they play and sound together’ since you said you were together in a band. I sort of wanted to hear that.” Dominic’s eyes got a little bigger in surprise and he was silent for a while that Ara got anxious if she said something that set him off. “What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. I was just surprised. I was just expecting another one-liner ‘you were amazing!’ or maybe something just empty.” Dominic looked grateful. “Thank you, Ara.” His eyes softened into crescents, lit by the warm hue of the final pinks that enveloped them all around and was soon turning into night. Ara’s heart skipped a beat at the sight.

He was beautiful.